CLOWN CONTROL: The Rangers, led by captain Ryan Callahan , made a statement in support of coach John Tortorella following a tweet by former teammate Sean Avery that called Tortorella a “clown” and called for his firing. Photo: AP

CLOWN CONTROL: The Rangers, led by captain Ryan Callahan (bottom left), made a statement in support of coach John Tortorella following a tweet by former teammate Sean Avery (inset) that called Tortorella a “clown” and called for his firing. (
)

The Rangers finally made a statement.

Regrettably, it was made on paper rather than on the ice, but hey, someone was finally able to stir the emotion of this somnambulant team, even if it was, of all people, Sean Avery, who did so by napalming his bridge to the Garden behind him in using his Twitter account to rudely call for the dismissal of coach John Tortorella.

Yep, it was Avery’s emergence from hockey exile via a tweet following the Rangers’ 3-0 defeat in Montreal on Saturday night — “Fire this CLOWN, his players hate him and wont play for his BS”— that prompted a flash of indignant club-wide solidarity in support of the coach as represented by captain Ryan Callahan.

“Sean Avery’s comments solely represent his own thoughts and opinions,” read the statement attached to Callahan’s name that the team released yesterday afternoon. “He did not speak for us as a team when he was here and certainly does not now.”

Avery is enjoying life as a Mad Man cut from a different cloth than Don Draper after retiring from hockey following a typically tumultuous 2011-12, during which he was twice waived by the Rangers and finished on the AHL Whale’s inactive list.

He merely laughed and declined to elaborate when reached by phone yesterday before posting a follow-up tweet that read, “Relax with the official statements, its kinda embarrassing.”

His arch-enemy Tortorella, meanwhile, is having a difficult 2012-13 coaching an underachieving, flat-line club that has been shut out twice in a row, has lost seven of its last 10 (3-6-1) and is barely in a playoff spot with 14 games to go beginning with tonight’s match at the Garden against the Jets.

There has been no edge and no resolve from the Rangers, who don’t even resemble distant cousins from last year’s Black-and-Blueshirts who spit out nails and pucks on their way to storming to the East’s regular season championship before being stopped in the conference finals.

The team that led the NHL with 65 fighting majors last season is currently in a four-way tie for 26th/29th in that category with 12 in 34 games, and just four in the last 29 matches.

Moreover, players who engaged in eight of those bouts are no longer on the roster. Only Arron Asham (three), who was a puzzling scratch in Montreal, and Brian Boyle (one), who well could be gone by Wednesday’s trade deadline, remain on the squad.

It is true that taking a hit to make a play equates to hockey toughness every bit as much as dropping the gloves, but the absence of pugilists in the lineup — was Micheal Haley really so bad that he had to be demoted to the Whale following a neutral zone blunder against the Devils? — has become a void as obvious as the absence of battle-level in front of both nets and in the one-on-ones that decide games and seasons.

There is no evidence ownership or upper management has given the slightest thought to dismissing Tortorella, who got the most out of his players last year but without a training camp in which to establish a mindset, has not been able to duplicate that accomplishment.

In fact, one more peep from Avery and the Rangers might well respond by giving the coach a contract for life.

Saturday night, Brad Richards and Ryan McDonagh talked to The Post about the critical importance of the team sticking together and of players maintaining their belief in one another and in the club’s framework.

Yesterday, they stuck together. Yesterday, the Rangers made a statement. On paper. Now let’s see if they can make one on the ice.